Local, state, regional and national departments of transportation are constantly seeking solutions to both new existing and long term transportation problems. The need for transportation solutions is particularly acute in regions experiencing population and economic growth which are typically accompanied by concerns for safety, security, mobility, productivity, the reduction of potentially harmful environmental impacts, as well as traffic congestion. Historically, within the transportation community, the emphasis has been on the growth of individual or single modes of transportation. In reality, however, these individual transportation modes do not actually function independently in society.
There is consequently a need to create safer, more integrated and improved transportation control systems in infrastructures, as well as to correspondingly build more efficient transportation and commercial vehicles. Due to the interdependencies of various modes of transportation, there is a need for a concurrent approach wherein a solution for one mode of transportation can be analyzed for its effect on one or more other modes. All of these transportation modes from an air, land, and maritime perspective must also relate to human factors and performance.